Stepping In, Stepping Up
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1002b: When Tina is out sick, Rachel volunteers to help Mike present the number they had prepared, and they have a talk. - mag721 birthday week 1 of 7!


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 47th cycle. Now cycle 48!_

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_**Cycle 48/Day 1000 special: **So, yes, in this cycle, a milestone I had to do something special for.  
In this cycle I'm passing my 1000th consecutive day of gleekathon! So for this, the cycle will feature:  
* 21-day/chapter story for the Sunshine Girls series (This Little Light of Mine)  
* 14-day/chapter story special for day 1000 (Let Me Tell You A Story)  
* One-shot installments from 12 series + 2 non-series  
* And for this cycle and this cycle alone (I swear), 7 'triple shift' days, with 3 chapters/stories going up in the day!_

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_**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: This Little Light of Mine, chapter 15._

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**"Stepping In, Stepping Up"  
Mike & Rachel**

_(Day one of birthday week for the one and only, the fabulous, the exquisite, yes, mag721! :D)_

They had all been split into their pairs, working on their assignment on their own for the last couple of days. Rachel, of course, had chosen Finn, and Mike had chosen Tina. Rachel and Finn had already performed their number by the time Tina had projectile her way into being out sick and bedridden for what may have been up to two weeks.

This left Mike on his own with regards to his Glee assignment. Mr. Schuester had left it up to him to decide how he wanted to handle this, but Rachel already had the solution all figured out.

When the practice ended, she had caught up to him in the hall. "Mike, hold on!" He stopped and turned. "I have a proposition for you."

"Okay?" he hesitated.

"Well, since Tina is unfortunately… undisposed at the moment, I would like to offer my services as a part-time partner." He looked like he wasn't completely sure what she meant. "You need someone for your assignment, I've already done mine, so… I can help… I can do Tina's part for her."

"Oh…" he nodded, considering.

"I know you've probably worked it out for the two of you, and you'd like to do it with her, but let's face it, she won't be back for a while, so it would all have been for nothing," she went right for it and he looked at her. She shrugged.

"I guess we could…" he barely had time to say.

"Great, alright, we can meet back here tomorrow at lunch, just send me the song by tonight," she told him before dashing off. Mike watched her go, standing there like he'd been slapped by a storm.

He had sent her the song, and the next day, as dictated, they met in the choir room. They began with Mike showing Rachel the choreography he and Tina had worked out. It was different, having to explain to her what had long become short hands between him and Tina. But then before long Rachel was more than on top of her game. She picked it up, and soon they had something they could agree was more than presentable.

"Thanks, Rachel," he told her, and she smiled.

"Don't mention it. What are captains for, right? And what are friends for?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Can I say something? And I know coming from me it's possible some of it will come out like I'm saying something bad, but I'm not, okay?" she felt the need to warn him, which both made him concerned and intrigued. "You've really stepped up lately, with the singing, you know?" He wasn't sure what the warning was for. "I mean considering where you were at last year…" He breathed and nodded.

"Yeah…"

"No, but I'm really impressed with you," she told him. "You're a phenomenal dancer, one of the best ones we've got. Now with the singing… You'll be unstoppable, Mike Chang," she smiled, and he laughed.

"Thanks," he told her.

"I mean you always were that guy that danced around," she went on and he frowned, unsure what she meant. "You know, like… in third grade, we did that pageant at Halloween. You were a vampire, and you were just so ready for when we had to do our dance," she explained. He had to stop and think about it for a minute, but then he smiled, laughed.

"I think I still have my cape somewhere," he nodded, looking at her. "You remember that?"

"I remember all my performances," she nodded like it was self-evident. "The good, the bad…"

"You were the bride of Frankenstein," he pointed all of a sudden, getting a flash.

"… and the embarrassing," she bowed her head. "But, yeah, really, it all makes sense to me that you ended up here, and we're lucky to have you." He had never gotten compliments like this from her, and he didn't know what to say.

"Thanks… really," he told her.

"So the point here is don't give up, always find a way," she stated, and he could guess she meant using her as a substitute partner instead of sitting out, which he knew was right.

"Want to run through it again?" he asked.

"Yes," she smiled with something like pride.

They would do their number at the next Glee practice, and it went even better than they had rehearsed. As they went to sit, he held out his hand and she blinked before realizing what he wanted and she high-fived him. Within days, they would get a new assignment and, with Tina still out, Rachel would carry on her duties as Mike's sub-partner.

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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